I need advice.

[willong]

Sometimes dried contents will be stubborn and you can stick part of a steel wire clothes hanger (curved and bent somewhat at one end) and gently "scratch" against the inside of the bottle and loosen/remove small patches of soiling.

Bending the wire into a small, tight J form on the end with needle nose pliers, wrapping around that J with fine steel wool, including a couple passes inside the "hook", and then crimping the wad with the pliers to keep all in place will produce a small scouring pad that one can introduce into a bottle's interior. The wire shank above the steel wool can then be bent to access the desired nooks and crannies.

However, if the glass is "sick" enough, the only solution short of tumbling might have to be an acid soak with a stronger acid solution than acetic acid (vinegar).

Dave of "Digger Dave & Shovelin Shelley Beeler" YouTube channel posted an almost hour-long video on cleaning topic. He included acid soaking technique.

 

[DeepSeaDan]

What do I use to clean this without tumbling.

My first clean is a mix of Barkeepers Friend, warm water & about 1/3 of the bottle filled with bits of copper wire I cut from stripped, 12ot wire. Then, I fire up KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Shake your Booty” and sing along loudly while I shake it like a quake hit ( substituting “Bottle” for “Booty” - very important! ). Next, tackle any remaining cling-ons with an assortment of brushes. If it passes final inspection, it’s off to the drip tray for drying, then final polishing. Have fun!

 

[Bohdan]

In my opinion, the best thing to do (after rinsing out all loose dirt, if there is any still in the bottle) is to soak the bottle (completely immersed) in room temp water that a can of "Bar Keepers Friend" powder has been carefully mixed into ( in a five-gallon plastic bucket) for a good 24 hours minimum. (Bar Keepers Friend has a mild form of Oxalic acid as the main cleaning agent, and this is often used by insulator collectors to remove stubborn train-soot).

After soaking, pour out water, fill the bottle about 1/3 to 1/2 full with warm water and SMALL SIZE aquarium gravel. Shake and swirl the bottle around in random motions for at least 3 or 4 minutes. If most of the stain has not been worn away, it probably will not come out without an actual professional tumbling job.

After shaking with aquarium gravel and water, you can also try putting such liquids as alcohol, bleach, vinegar, ammonia (One at a time, not together) in the bottle and let it sit for a day or so, and then thoroughly rinse out.

But those methods will not really work if the inside of the bottle is degrading ("SICK GLASS" - a microscopically thin layer of the surface of the glass, usually the soda content of the glass formula, is being leached out and that leaves a grayish/whitish stain/haze) and that can only be solved by tumbling.

I've used various methods of cleaning (bottle brushes, etc) but they never do much good unless the stain inside is just dried former contents.

Sometimes dried contents will be stubborn and you can stick part of a steel wire clothes hanger (curved and bent somewhat at one end) and gently "scratch" against the inside of the bottle and loosen/remove small patches of soiling.

If it is truly "sick glass", after cleaning with any normal methods, it might look temporarily better (shinier) but THEN after the bottle dries out again completely inside, it is back to looking dull and hazy inside.

If you know what you are doing and are careful, try various solvents - acetone, laquer thinner, muriatic acid (be very careful), etc. But I agree that it looks like typical "sick glass" - tumble or live with it.

 

[K6TIM]

Hi,
Sick glass really can't be cleaned.It sometimes has a iridesent( rainbow) look then leave it alone!
TIM

 

[Bohdan]

If you know what you are doing and are careful, try various solvents - acetone, laquer thinner, muriatic acid (be very careful), etc. But I agree that it looks like typical "sick glass" - tumble or live with it.

Digger Dave is just another bottle digger with another opinion. I've been digging since the early 70s and believe me, tumbling is the only answer for "sick bottles". The interaction between the glass and elements in the soil has slowly eroded the glass and is microns thick in the glass. So remove microns of glass by tumbling down to 'clean' polished glass.